Judgment and Decision Making: An Interdisciplinary Reader

by Kenneth R. Hammond (Editor), Hal R. Arkes (Editor)

The necessity of understanding and improving judgement and decision making is of central concern to researchers in a growing range of fields - public policy, law, business, medicine, psychology, engineering, and others. This book, which presupposes no formal training, brings together many of the most crucial articles on judgement and decision making, carefully selected and organised, together with section introductions and bridging commentary. The variety of problems discussed is wide: for example, medical diagnosis, marital conflict, the Camp David negotiations, radiation risk, and public health policy. Judgement and Decision Making: An Interdisciplinary Reader constitutes an accessible introduction to this important body of work for students and teachers, as well as for laypeople interested in the implications of the new findings for their own ways of judging and deciding.

832 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Takuro Ishikawa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a collection of classical papers on decision theory: the study (and improvement) of human decision making. All its readings are relevant to social policy research. However, if I have to recommend one it would be this:

The seminal paper "Informing the public about the risks of ionizing radiation", by Paul Slovic, Baruch Fischhoff, and Sarah Lichtenstein. It offers very good tips on how to effectively communicate statistical information; in particular, how to communicate probabilities of negative outcomes.